Friday, March 28, 2014

BIR Western P’sinan laggard in Tax Collection

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

By MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

LOT FOR BIR EASTERN PANGASINAN: A Filipino Chinese couple (4th and 3rd from Right) in Urdaneta City donated a sizeable lot in Brgy. Anonas in the city where the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s Revenue District Office - 6 can relocate due to its limited office space in the city proper. Leading in the giving of plaque of appreciation is BIR Assistant Commissioner Nelson Aspe (4th from Left). Other of the tax agency’s personalities are RDO-4 chief Renato Molina, Assistant RDO-4 chief Charmaine dela Torre, and Region 1 Director Arnel Guballa. The giving of plaque was part of the BIR’s launching of its Register, File, and Pay program in recently at the regional office in Calasiao, Pangasinan.

CALASIAO – Comparing the cumulative collection of the Bureau of Internal Revenue in Region 1 in the January to February period this year, Revenue District Office -5 of the BIR based in Alaminos City was the "slowpoke" among its counterparts in the region as it failed to exceed its collection last year.

Records obtained by Northern Watch at the BIR regional office here showed that RDO-5, that covers the first and second congressional districts, collected only P128,228,039.61 versus its P139,427,845.11 collection in 2013.

The collection plunged was P11,199,805.50 (-8.03%).

RDO-5 is under the watch of RDO chief Emir Abutzil.

There are six RDOs in Region in Region 1 under the leadership of Director Arnel Guballa.

Records showed that in the same period, RDO-1 (Ilocos Norte) has collected P169, 689, 659.42 versus its collection of P169,033,346.84 in 2013; RDO-2 (Ilocos Sur) has collected P186,214,679.66 versus its collection of P159,072,311.95 in 2013; RDO-3 (La Union) has collected P281,248,818.00 versus its collection of P265,801,706.10 in 2013; RDO-4 (Calasiao, Pangasinan) has collected P362,412,683.41 versus its collection of P327, 513,905 in 2013 and; RDO-6 (Urdaneta City, Pangasinan) has collected P160,747,545.94 versus its collection of P134,005,381.30 in 2013.

A source who asked anonymity at the regional office said that it is only RDO-4 based here compared to its five counterparts in Region-1 that has not only exceeded the year-on-year basis but eclipsed the goal given by the government.

“Our actual collection (February 2014) is P173,275,637.24 while the goal is P114,526,952.72 or a spike of P28,748,684.52 (19.89%).

The taxes BIR collected comes from income excise, VAT, property, and others.

Overall BIR-Region 1 collected P1,288, 541,426.04 in January-February this year versus the 1,194,854,496.98 or a hike of 93, 686,929.06 (7.84%).